Horizontal shaft impact crushers are commonly employed to pulverize many different types of materials including, by way of examples, not limitations, asphalt, concrete, and rock. Such crushers typically include a frame defining a cavity. A rotating impeller driven by an external drive mechanism is disposed within the cavity. The frame includes an opening through which the material to be crushed is inserted into the cavity. One or more breaker plates are generally disposed within the cavity. The rotating impeller repeatedly throws the material to be crushed against the breaker plate(s) thereby breaking the material into small particles.
Each of the breaker plates is generally pivotally mounted within the cavity such that its angular position may be changed to suit the type of material being crushed. To this end, each breaker plate is typically supported within the cavity by a number of adjusting rods (typically two). The adjusting rods extend out of the frame. By adjusting the position of the rods (e.g., pulling the rods further out of the cavity or pushing them further into the cavity), an operator can adjust the position of the associated breaker plate.
Breaker plates are generally relatively heavy. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the position of the adjusting rods without reducing or relieving the weight of the breaker plate from the adjusting rods. To this end, some prior art devices employ one or more hydraulic cylinders which act as jacks to support the breaker plate weight during the adjustment procedure. Such cylinders are traditionally mounted to a bridge which is, in turn, mounted to the adjusting rods. Unfortunately, these prior art bridges add to the overall height of the crusher and leave the cylinders exposed to damage, especially during transport of the crusher.
The present invention allows the weight of the breaker plates to be supported during adjustment of the adjusting rods without materially adding to the overall height of the crusher.